The Indiana Pacers got off to an ugly 0-3 start this season. Since then, the Pacers have won 10 of 13 games to improve to 10-6, most recently defeating the scrappy Memphis Grizzlies by a score of 126-114 on Monday night.

Of course, all of this is coming without Victor Oladipo, who remains sidelined while recovering from a quad tear he suffered last January.

That begs the question: just how good can this Indiana team be with a healthy Oladipo?

Oladipo returned to practice last month, but there is still no definitive timetable for his return. Some have speculated late December or early January, but no one knows for sure when Oladipo will retake the floor.

What we do know is that the Pacers revamped their roster during the offseason, adding pieces such as Malcolm Brogdon, T.J. Warren and Jeremy Lamb, all of whom have played a pivotal role in Indy's run over its last 13 contests.

What's even more amazing is that the Pacers were winning some of those games without Myles Turner, who was sidelined for a little while with ankle issues.

When Turner has been on the floor, he has been terrific, shooting 49.4 percent from the floor and 44.1 percent from three-point range while playing his typical lockdown defense.

Domantas Sabonis has also taken a significant step forward this season, and while he still lacks in terms of floor-spacing ability and defense, he has gotten even better as a scorer and rebounder, averaging 18.6 points and 13.4 rebounds per game.

Aaron Holiday has been really good off the bench, Doug McDermott has been shooting lights out from downtown and rookie Goga Bitadze has shown a lot of promise as a backup big.

Due to the production of some of its youngsters off the pine, the Pacers are deeper than we thought. Yes, they could still use some veteran help, but some of their reserves are playing very well.

Really, the main missing ingredient right now is Victor Oladipo, who is, by far, Indiana's best player and one of the best two-way players in basketball, period.

I said over the summer that if Oladipo comes back healthy, this club has a legitimate shot of winning the Eastern Conference. Two years ago, the Pacers pushed the LeBron James-led Cleveland Cavaliers to seven games in the first round of the playoffs. Last season, they were swept by the Boston Celtics in the opening round, but the fact that they even stayed afloat without Oladipo for the entire second half of the year was an incredible feat in and of itself.

And this year, Indiana has more overall talent than the past couple of seasons, setting up a pretty dramatic moment once Oladipo steps back on the court.

Obviously, we don't know if Victor Oladipo will ever get back to 100 percent this year, as he is coming off of a pretty devastating injury that only Tony Parker and Charles Barkley have suffered before him (and they sustained the injury toward the end of their careers), but if he does? This Pacers squad is going to be very, very dangerous.

How dangerous? Dangerous enough to seriously threaten the Celtics, Bucks and 76ers at the top of the conference.